"

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes, 0 seconds

IRS Worker In Alleged Fraud

An Internal Revenue Service employee in Massachusetts has been accused of filing more than 590 false tax returns. Jennifer Beth True, 44, of Lawrence, Mass., was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft this month.

True, who worked at the IRS Service Center in Andover, Mass., has been an IRS employee for more than 22 years and is currently a Lead Contact Representative who responds to difficult and complex taxpayer inquiries.

She is accused of filing more than 590 tax returns for herself and other taxpayers between 2012 and 2017, in violation of IRS rules which prohibits its employees from preparing tax returns for compensation. True allegedly received between $40 and $100 per return, the vast majority prepared on her personal computer using TaxAct software.

An IRS investigation reportedly found that from about February 2018 through April 15, 2018  True prepared at least seventy 1040 returns that included a wide variety of false information, including false expenses of various types and unmerited child and dependent care credits. The report said many clients did not know she used false information.

True is also accused of preparing a personal return for tax year 2014 that claimed seven dependents, including one who was not a dependent and had paid True to prepare her return. The taxpayer had not given True permission to claim her as a dependent.

If convicted, she faces a sentence of up to 20 years for the wire fraud charge, along with three years of supervised release and a $250,000 fine. Aggravated identity theft carries  a mandatory sentence of two years in prison to be served consecutive to any other sentence imposed, up to one year of supervised release and a fine of up to $250,000. 

Bob Scott
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards.  Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He  has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that.  A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
Read 3170 times
Rate this item
(0 votes)

Visit other PMG Sites:

Template Settings

Color

For each color, the params below will give default values
Tomato Green Blue Cyan Dark_Red Dark_Blue

Body

Background Color
Text Color

Header

Background Color

Footer

Select menu
Google Font
Body Font-size
Body Font-family
Direction
PMG360 is committed to protecting the privacy of the personal data we collect from our subscribers/agents/customers/exhibitors and sponsors. On May 25th, the European's GDPR policy will be enforced. Nothing is changing about your current settings or how your information is processed, however, we have made a few changes. We have updated our Privacy Policy and Cookie Policy to make it easier for you to understand what information we collect, how and why we collect it.